School news roundup

Thursday

Jan 10, 2013 at 3:15 AM

Rochester

Rochester Middle School

Around RMS

There will be big changes for traffic on Brock Street beginning Jan. 11. The administration is sending home a notice to let parents know about the changes and how to prepare for them. RMS anticipates that the repair work on Brock Street will lead to delays in transportation as Brock Street becomes a one-way street for approximately the next two years. Parents driving to the school will probably need to adjust their driving times to ensure students arrive to school on time. Bus routes will probably be affected as well. Temporary pedestrian facilities and crossing guards will be in place at the intersections.

The RMS tee-shirt and sweatshirt sale is still going on. All money is due on or before Friday, Jan. 11. Students may pick up an order form during lunch in the hallway or see Ms. Smith in the Physical Education Department. You can turn in all order forms and cash or check to Ms. Smith.

It’s the time of the year for geography and spelling bees. The geography bee for grade 6 was Jan. 8 while the geography bee for grades 7 and 8 are Thursday, Jan. 10. The finalist for each grade will then meet in a school-wide geography bee, Tuesday, Jan. 15.

The School-wide spelling bee is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 22, with a snow date of Jan. 24.

The RMS Ski Club begins its season Jan. 10. Advisors Demers and Femino have some reminders for those members going to Gunstock Ski Area on Thursday: 1) Make sure to trip-check your student’s gear, to include all clothing and of course their equipment. If you’re renting, we’ll be getting those kids into the rental area once we arrive; Remember, make sure they dress warmly! 3) Study group will be in the café after classes Thursday p.m. with Ms. Femino or Mr. Choate. Make sure to pack a snack for them to have during the break, and stress this is a time to complete their studies for the following day. We’ll be asking a few parents to possibly chip in with some baked goods for next week. Let us know if you’d like to participate; 4) The bus will leave by 3:30 p.m.; 5) Either provide some money or pack a dinner for the evening; 6) ALL Club members will have a lesson starting at 5:30 p.m. Everyone will have a chance to get a few runs in prior or our beginners will be able to make it to the ‘magic carpet’ section with some chaperons; 7) Our goal will be to arrive sometime after 9 p.m. in the RMS parking lot.

The Spaulding High School Jr. Air Force ROTC Assembly originally scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 23 from has been postponed until a date to be determined in February.

Sports

There will be an RMS Spirit Bake Sale on Friday, Jan. 11, during lunches for each grade. Students are asked to bring extra money on Friday to help the RMS Cheerleaders with their fundraising. The RMS Cheerleading Squad is sponsoring this bake sale to raise money for purchasing warm-ups, t-shirts, and new pom-poms.

Mr. Emerson has this summary of recent action for the RMS Grade 8 Boys’ Basketball: The team put together an awesome week of basketball during the recent holiday break to win the Rochester Recreation Holiday Tournament. The Mighty Timberwolves beat Somersworth Middle School in the 1st round by a point, beat Oyster River Middle School during the 2nd round by four points, and beat Marshwood Middle School in the 3rd round by five to qualify for the championship game vs. Somersworth. RMS won in the finals by beating Somersworth in overtime 41-39. Every game came down to the final minute of play, but none was more exciting than the championship game. The fans and players were treated to quite a display of team effort, determination, and solid play from both sides, but RMS pulled it out down the stretch.

Congratulations RMS 8th Grade Boys’ Team! The tournament trophy was presented to Mrs. McKenney on Wednesday, and will be put on display in the main office and then in our RMS trophy case. Check it out!

Continuing with the Grade 8 Boys’ results, Mr. Emerson had this to add: The RMS Grade 8 Boys’ Basketball team played its first regular-season game Wednesday night vs. Barrington Middle School. The Mighty Timberwolves used a solid team defense to shut down the BMS Bulldogs and won the game 40-25. RMS was struggling in the first half offensively, but opened it up in the 2nd half to pull away for the hard fought win. The team now holds an impressive 5-0 record in the early stages of the season, and will continue to work harder each and every day to improve as individuals and as a team. Nice job men!

Coach Almeida, Grade 8 Girls’ Basketball coach, reports the results of the two regular season games for his team: The 8th grade girls played Barrington Middle School Jan. 2, and lost by 2, 28-26, in a nail biter! Friday we came away with a win against Cooperative Middle School here at home, 33-27. During the Holiday Tournament, we lost to Oyster River MS for our first game and a close hard fought game to Somersworth MS. In our final game of the tournament we beat the Barrington Rec Travel Team by 2!

The schedule for these two weeks is games against Dover Middle School, Jan. 8 and Cooperative Middle School, Jan. 9; results will be in next week’s column. Upcoming games include the girls traveling to Portsmouth Middle School on Monday, Jan. 14 while the boys host PMS. The seventh grade teams travel to Farmington on Thursday, Jan. 17, to play Henry Wilson School teams.

Coach Clement of the Wrestling Team has an update for his team: Jon Speltz, grade 7, placed 2nd in the first tournament (PJ Sora Tournament @ Londonderry, on Dec. 9) and 1st in the second tournament (YMCA Holiday Tournament at Bow, Dec. 16). There were many wrestlers who won matches, but didn’t win medals. Our next wrestling tournament is the Blue Hawks Big Trophy Classic on Sunday, Jan. 13 at Exeter. The only home meet for the team is on Thursday, Jan. 17, at 5 p.m. against Merrimack. There is also a Facebook “like” page called RMS Wrestling with a photo of a ref holding a wrestler’s hand up in the air. The team will post videos of the wrestlers on here plus any other info.

Clubs and Organizations

The Drama Club, under the directorship of Mrs. Barrows and Mrs. Spaulding, are conducting auditions for the play, “The Little Mermaid,” this Thursday, Jan. 10, after school. Audition Call Back is Friday, Jan. 11.

There will be a Grade 6 Winter Black Out Dance Friday, Jan. 11, from 2:30-4:30 p.m, sponsored by the Student Council. Tickets are on sale during the 6th grade lunch. The cost is $6, which includes a snow cone. The first 50 students will get a White Out t-shirt.

Several students had personal goals. Joey wants to go to Hilltop Fun Center more often. Spencer plans to stop buying Legos and save money. Sadie is hoping to have her ears pierced. Alex will build more things like robots. Hannah is planning on persuading her grandmother to make peanut butter fudge more often. Kaden will fight less with his sister. Colette will brush her teeth twice a day.

Some students had educational goals. Chloe wants to be on the honor roll. Ari will work harder in school. Brian’s goal is to make his mom happy with his great grades. Alyssa is attempting to write a book.

One group of students had social goals. Xowie and Riley want to help the homeless. Gabrielle plans to volunteer at an animal shelter. Hunter hopes “fire arms will be taken off the shelf.”

Finally Cheyenne is hoping “They open a new school because she loves going to new schools!”

Happy New Year from Maple Street Magnet School!

Chamberlain Street School

Students in seven classrooms at Chamberlain have foster grandparents helping them every day by making sure they are on the right track with their studies or sometimes just listening to the students. These are retired seniors who love working with children and enjoy helping the teachers in the classrooms. We are lucky the have these “grams” at Chamberlain. They make a significant difference and are truly part of our school community. Thank you for all that you do!

Bingo night is back! The PTA sponsored bingo night will be Friday, Jan. 11 at 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. Join us at 6 p.m. for pizza or at 6:30 p.m. for just bingo. Pizza must be paid for and ordered in advance by Jan. 9. Play bingo for just $2 a person. There will be raffle prizes, pizza and bingo. What a fun night!

Nancy Loud School

Kindergarten learned the sound of the letters K and D this week. We explored objects with magnifying glasses in science and made patterns with craft sticks for math. In art we learned about the primary colors red, yellow and blue and started making our Art book.

In Mr. Cooper’s first grade class we are studying the letter Y. We are also studying measurements. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s Day. We had a foot of snow. We are studying about how we change and grow. Written by Ethan and Shannon.

The entire school has gotten right back into the routine. New snow on the ground allows for extra fun and fresh air during recess. All children are working hard. Midyear testing has begun and everyone is doing their best.

Farmington

Valley View Community School

By Kelly Gagnon

The staff at Valley View Community School would like to welcome back all of its students from their winter break.

This month’s Habit 2 is: Begin with the End in Mind. This will be a focus throughout the school.

There is a PTA meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 23. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The kindergarten classes at VVCS are learning about the letter P. Blending and segmenting words are very important skills for the kindergarten students to know and practice. Number recognition is another skill that the teachers of VVCS kindergarten ask its students to be practicing at home.

Milton

Nute High School and Library

By Jackie Howard

Mrs. Johnson’s advisory held a middle School game night on Nov. 9, which fundraised $145 and sent it to a local homeless shelter in Rochester. The event offered a variety of games: ping pong, Dance Dance Revolution, volleyball, and badminton. Kids were also allowed to just hang out and enjoy being with their friends, as all students love to do.

“This was a great opportunity for the students to work together to do something great for someone else,” said Mrs. Johnson. “It was a learning experience that we loved putting together.”

A week later, the money was sent to the homeless shelter in Rochester. A few weeks later, Nute had an assembly for the high schoolers and faculty to award students for their high achievements in the first quarter. Mrs. Johnson’s advisory was commended for this fundraiser.

“The plan for the game night was put together weeks ahead of time, and everyone seemed to have their own part in it,” said sophomore Shania Santoro-Nason.

Money for the shelter was made from the $5 entry cost and the concession stand, which sold snacks and drinks.